


The Living Complex: Onset

by poisonbite01



Series: The Living Complex [1]
Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Gen, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Other, Plot, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:38:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9304613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonbite01/pseuds/poisonbite01
Summary: Artemis Fowl II has been living among the People for almost a decade now, and things are going well. The love of his life is in his arms each night, he has a career that is both fulfilling financially and intellectually, and he's got more friends than he ever imagined he'd have.What's he going to do when he faces one threat he'd never thought he'd ever face? What's he going to do when his past comes surging up and turns his own mind against him?~~~This is inspired by Kitsune Heart's Living Universe stories, and is basically "The Atlantis Complex" set in THAT continuity.





	1. Clocks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kitsune_Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Heart/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Dead, the Broken, and the Living](https://archiveofourown.org/works/381973) by [Kitsune_Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Heart/pseuds/Kitsune_Heart). 



> This will likely not make any sense if you have not already read most if not all of Kitsune_Heart's "The Living Universe". READ IT PLEASE ITS AMAZING!
> 
> I started tinkering with this some time ago after being inspired by Kitsune_Heart's FANTASTIC "The Living Universe," linked above. This story is meant to incorporate elements from "The Atlantis Complex" and "The Last Guardian" and apply them to the Living Universe setting. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this stuff as much as I enjoyed coming up with the ideas and writing them, and I hope you enjoy it at least one-hundredth as much as I enjoyed Kitsune_Heart's incredible writings (in case you were wondering, even a hundredth of that enjoyment is an extremely ridiculous amount, I hope that puts in perspective how much I love their work).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, this is a second draft of the story. You can still read the original if you want, its not going to be too different in the first two chapters but I didn't like the way the original was coming out and decided it would be better to start over.

Artemis awoke with a start and a moment of confusion and anxiety prevented him from reveling in the feel of Holly pressed against his chest or her arms coiled around his torso. His head snapped up from the pillows and his eyes opened wide, but there was no threat. He heard nothing but the plumbing in the walls of his sizable home and the faint ticking of the grandfather clock he'd brought down from the Fowl Manor. 

So why was he so worried? He laid his head back down on the pillows, pressed his face into the mass of hair that was the top of Holly's head, and let the feel of her auburn locks tickling his chin ease away the unexplained tension. 

The fourth bong of the Grandfather Clock was forgotten in a dreamy haze, the same place he'd heard it.

~~~

Several days after the incident, he returned home from a difficult but short day at work while Holly fluttered about above ground in what was, on the surface, a few hours before dawn. He loosened his tie and ran a hand through his hair, hoping he looked disheveled enough to appeal to Holly's adrenaline-addled fascination with him looking unkempt, but he paused in front of his family's heirloom grandfather clock. His eyebrows tilted in consternation as he stared up at the towering piece of furniture, the five foot structure far taller than his tiny elf body. 

Regardless of the height difference, he could still see the face of the clock clearly, and his worried expression stared back at him from the polished, mirror-like face. 

“Four o'clock...” He muttered, head jerking and his fingers twitching in time with the ticking second-hand. The said hand swept up to the twelve, the minute hand resting flush beneath it, and the hour hand stopped primly at the four, as it should. The muted bonging of the clock followed, but it made Artemis cringe. Even with the modifications he had made to decrease the volume of its chiming, the clock seemed abnormally loud today, and the four crashes of hammer on bell seemed to rise in volume and pitch until the fourth one felt like a spike thrust between his eyes. 

Then it was done and the clock returned to its normal ticking, but he was leaning away with a hand to his chest and sweating heavily. The pain remained, muted as the bongs of the clock were supposed to be, for exactly five seconds when it vanished without a trace. Five seconds...five was fine. 

He straightened at that, his anxiousness and furiously-beating heart buried under incredulity. Of course five was fine. All numbers were fine. All numbers, even...

He gulped, his throat coated in something thick and hot, but that passed in five seconds as well, and he turned from the clock with a huff to find himself something soothing to drink.


	2. Guilt

Artemis and Holly rested back on their couch, lounging lazily on one of the rare occasions that both of them had a day off at the same time. Holly was curled up against the former's chest, half-asleep, while Artemis watched his fingers trailing through her short, auburn hair, and a film was playing in the background. The only sounds came from said movie, the breathing of the two elves, and the occasional beeping from the various appliances and electronics scattered about the house. At least until Holly suddenly spoke. 

“You ever wonder what would have happened if Koboi hadn't come to the future?”

This line of thought was an odd one from the normally grounded Holly, and Artemis's expression made that quite clear. This was a deep and highly theoretical concept, and when Holly didn't make any sudden moves or acknowledge the question for several moments, he wondered if it had been some sleep-inspired dream-question. 

But then she tilted her head back and looked up at him, and her mismatched eyes shone with a curiosity and wonder that she only showed when A) Artemis had a new gadget for her to play with or B) she wanted Artemis to wax-scientific in order to lull her to sleep. Despite the obvious manipulation and lack of appreciation for his genius that this meant, Artemis was unable to deny Holly anything she desired. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead, drawing a pleased coo from the woman, and he spoke. His voice was low and even, the Fowl sharpness buried under an elf's naturally musical tones. 

“Well... in my studies of how time magic works it is impossible to even contemplate such a possibility. The only way to imagine such an event is to look at it from a historical perspective. If we look at the events as they happened, we arrived in the past before Koboi even thought about coming to the future. 

“So the appropriate question should have been 'What would have happened if we had not gone back in time?' Looking at it that way, Koboi would never have gone into the future and she'd have gotten JJ. She would have had the last component necessary to complete her biological cocktail of magic boosters, and would have become the most powerful warlock in existence at the time. 

“This would have likely resulted in catastrophic war for the Fairies, as a super genius with immense magical power and a plan for world domination is a recipe for disaster. We stopped that by traveling through time.” 

The entire time he spoke, he ran his fingers through Holly's hair, tilted his body a little so she could lean more comfortably against the narrow plank that was his chest, and used his other arm to trace up and down her side and shoulders. These were not lewd touches meant to excite, but simple touches that only two people intimately familiar with each other’s body could share, and Holly responded to them with exactly what Artemis wanted: another pleased sigh of delight and a slowing of her breathing as she eased closer into sleep. 

“We saved JJ too.” She let out another little sigh and Artemis realized that if she fell asleep here, she'd never wake up and he'd be trapped, so he did the only thing he could think to do. He swept her into his arms and carried her to bed. This was done with, Artemis was proud to know, only a tiny bit of grunting and straining and he managed to get her into bed and under the covers without dropping her. He kissed her goodnight, and she swiped at him, trying to pull him down with her, but he stepped out of range and watched her fall asleep almost immediately, a slight pout on her features that slowly eased into a relaxed expression. 

When she was safely in slumber-land, he headed for his office, where he booted up his computer with a wave of his hand and got to work. 

~~~

It took several hours to construct an appropriate model, and after those hours and his calculations began to work, he felt a growing sense of horror and shame. He'd never been more wrong in his life. 

Opal wouldn't have been able to take over the world with JJ. She would have had enough of his brain fluid for a few bouts of time travel, but there was no way she could have gotten more and it would not have boosted her powers for more than a few days. She would have caused some damage, it was true, but an elite team of snipers and maybe a dozen casualties and Opal would have been assassinated or knocked unconscious, sapped of magic, and thrown in prison several months after her “ascension” to magical powerhouse. 

She never would have been part of the Bwa'Kell Rebellion. She never would have gone into a coma and come out after his mind wipe. She never would have escaped.

Artemis tricked N1 and Holly into helping him travel through time, and in doing so Artemis had created the timeline that led to that version of Opal existing. That sequence of events, the events that had led to Opal attempting to drive the fairy world and the human world together. 

The events that led to Opal killing Julius.

Because of his decisions, Artemis was just as at fault for Julius’ death as Opal was.

To save a lemur, Artemis had killed one of the People's best and brightest defenders, Holly's mentor and father-figure. 

Artemis lowered his head to his desk, body overcome with exhaustion, and felt a surge of pain that seemed to start from his toes and sweep up to the tips of his ears, until his entire body was wracked with a debilitating ache. It reminded him of how he'd felt when his father was returned to him alive. That was one of the few times he'd allowed himself to be completely overcome with emotion, satisfaction and joy and hope all mixing together into one euphoric ball of pure bliss. 

This was similar, but opposite. He felt only anger and sadness and grief, every other emotion pushed away. Instead of a mountainous weight lifting from his shoulders, he felt like Atlas in those first few moments, where the weight of the sky rested across his back. Every muscle burned and every synapse of his mind fired at once, trying to find a solution to this burden, but only two words came back to him.

Your fault. 

~~~

Several hours later as the People’s morning began, Holly found him resting on his desk, and she smiled slightly at her lover in a position he so regularly ended up in. She stepped inside, padding silently over the faux-wood floors, and reached out for him, ready to shake him awake and get him to bed for some proper sleep. Her hand neared him, but before she could touch him he sat up so rapidly she was sure he would catapult out of his chair and slam into the ceiling. 

But no, he simply sat ramrod straight, staring into the computer screen that had long since went to sleep, and Holly was taken aback at his appearance. His face was blotchy and red, and his eyes were bloodshot. There was a bruise on his forehead that wasn't healing, and there was a manic gleam in his eyes that, for the first time in over a decade of dating him, caused her to step back into a fighting stance.

But the gleam faded and Artemis blinked, yawned, and got unsteadily to his feet. When he almost bumped into the frozen Holly, he looked at her with complete surprise, her presence unnoticed until then, but then he smiled and reached out to her for an embrace. 

“Good morning, love. Sleep well?” 

When she did not step into his grip, he tilted his head to the side, his expression growing tense, and he opened his mouth to speak. He and Holly said the same thing at precisely the same moment.

“Are you alright?”

There was another brief pause, and Artemis blinked several times during it. He found it interesting that Holly seemed to adamantly refuse to do so, but as Butler always said: dry eyeballs did no one any good except your opponent. Not that Holly was his opponent, and Butler didn't actually always say that, but the adage seemed to hold true for most situations. 

Artemis felt a pang of strange worry as he noted the errant thoughts he was having, and pulled himself back into the strange encounter with his lover, and to his horror found that he had 'tuned in' in at the end of Holly's sentence. 

“-crying?” Her face was twisted into an expression of confusion and worry, and he got his hug when she stepped up and cupped his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. The words, the tender touches, the searching expression, it was clear Holly thought something was wrong, and Artemis opened his mouth once more to speak. 

This time, though, he hesitated. A little dark coil of thought, squatting on his brain like some monstrous little rodent, all beady eyes and diseased teeth, whispered into his mind. 

“She’s just as much to blame as you” the rodent muttered, and the young elf felt a moment of panic that was most unlike himself. His eyes bored into Holly’s and he wondered if she was indeed just as at fault for all the wrong that he’d done in his life, and the darkness cackled. He felt the urge to push her away, and his hands came around and gripped her hips, ready to shove her off of him. 

But her stare and the delicate touches Holly was giving him soothed him and brushed his panic away. Of course Holly was not at fault. She was responsible for everything good he’d ever done, and had, almost single-handed, prevented him from becoming a villainous mastermind akin to older generations of Fowl. With a mental snarl, Artemis silenced the strange manifestation, regaining control of his psyche, and the knot of black emotion slid away from his conscious mind.

Artemis returned to her then, and his arms slid tight around the small of her back. He pulled her into a delicate kiss, and then broke it to deliver a gift of honesty and trust, a gift that Holly treasured so dearly because of its rarity. 

“I was thinking about Julius, all those hurt by Koboi, and all the demons I couldn’t save. A bit of melancholy struck me after our conversation last night, and I had a… bad night.” 

Holly moved her arms, coiling them around his neck, and her face remained concerned despite his admittance of weakness. Even after almost twenty years knowing Artemis and a little over ten knowing him intimately, he was so rarely upfront and direct like this. But knowing his troubles did not mean she couldn’t feel bad that he hadn’t come to her with his need, and she started to speak. 

He silenced her with another kiss, this one a little more intense, and when he pulled back he had that special kind of sinister light in his eyes that warmed a portion of her anatomy somewhere between her knees and belly-button. 

“I needed time, Holly. I needed to address my thoughts and figure out what I needed next. And do you know what I need?” 

This was a perfectly Artemis-like response and Holly felt her tension easing. She giggled and, doing her best to duplicate Artemis’s masterful smirk, said “Me?” 

Artemis looked stunned, though Holly knew it was an act. 

“You read my mind. I need to get one of Foaly’s hats.” 

~~~

Their love-making started in the office and finished in the bedroom, and it was tender and lovely and full of giggles and delicate touches.


	3. Overwhelmed

“Have you heard of N1’s new datemate? They’re adorable and they-” 

“What was his name? Tubbles? Turnbuckle? Whatever his name was, the Root name is-”

“Koboi’s been at the forefront of prisoner rights movements. She’s probably just mad that-” 

“What can we do? Water Purification is a difficult process and-” 

Artemis downed the rest of his drink (a light, bubbly drink with a taste akin to mint) and moved away from his spot in a shadowy corner. He started weaving his way through the people gathered in his home, trying in vain to ignore each new conversation his sensitive hearing picked up. 

“I heard she requested a computer. She’s been locked up for only a decade, and Koboi thinks we’d let her have one of those?” 

“Turnball? That doesn’t sound right. I could have sworn it was something else.” 

“Just because a few goblins fall in every few decades doesn’t mean our safety precautions are-” 

Everything was louder than usual, and the low rumble of Crunchball highlights playing in the living room wasn’t helping. How had Holly talked him into letting her do this with his house? He had far too much work to do to be idling around listening to inane dialogue about pointless matters. The more he fumed, the more annoyed he got, until he was warm all the way to the tips of his ears and his hand squeezed his simple, plastic cup out of shape. 

Almost as quickly as it started, he stopped being angry. It fled his mind like shadows from the rising artificial sun, and he let out a low, delicate breath. The mood swings were striking more rapidly now, but were also lasting less time. He wasn’t sure what to make of that, but he was tired of them. He could worry about dealing with them after the party, and for now he had to get to his office. 

He quirked his head, picking out Holly’s warm, rich tones from the trivial chatter about him. Ever since that encounter a year ago with an enraged human, her voice hadn’t sounded the same but it was still as lovely as the first time he’d heard it. Three weeks stranded on the surface, nursing a throat wound, and without magic had done a number on her vocal chords, and the medical warlocks had done all they could. Or so she told everyone. N1 and Artemis both knew she loved the roughness of her words and the scar was “simply too bad-ass to magic away.” 

Smirking at the recollection, he weaved his way through the crowd and found Holly chatting with a few peers from the LEP. When he came into sight, her eyes fell on his and her expression lit up his insides more than the metaphorical sun had done earlier, but there must have been something in his expression that turned her delighted expression into a subtle frown. 

Artemis knew what that slight shift meant and he gave the tiniest shake of his head and a little wriggle of his free hand. His subtle body language told her everything she needed, more or less. He was distressed but not seriously so and he wanted to say something, so Holly excused herself and came over, slipping an arm through his and leaning in close. 

“You alright,” she whispered.

“Of course. This evening is just a bit… more than I expected.” His reply was accompanied by a wave of his slightly-crumpled cup. She noted the indentations left by his fingers and quirked an eyebrow, but then she leaned in closer. Holly kissed him lightly on his jaw just below his earlobe, and he shivered at the contact. The trace of alcohol on her breath was not a pleasant aroma, but the warmth of it felt nice, as did the light squeeze she gave his bicep. 

“I understand, love. If you need to bail, go on ahead. I can hold things down here.” 

Artemis let out a clearly relieved sigh, and this alarmed Holly more than anything he’d done or said so far. Had Artemis really been that worried? Before she could press, Artemis leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. 

“Thank you dear. I’ll be in my office.” He started to move away, mind already shifting to one of his projects. Holly watched him, smiling a little and resting one hand on her cocked hip, before finally turning back to some of her guests. Artemis’ odd behavior was weighing on her, but it could wait until after the party.

~~~

Three hours passed. The party got progressively louder as the evening went on, despite many of the guests leaving. The music continued to pound, and only Artemis’ own patented sound-dampening shielding systems kept the music from upsetting his neighbors. On the way back from the toilet pond out back, Foaly of all people passed by the door to Artemis’ office and gave a sharp, clumsy series of knocks. There was no reply, but he heard some sounds from inside, and Foaly’s focus burned razor sharp. 

Despite the copious amounts of alcohol in his system, Foaly knew what Artemis was like and not answering a knock was not something he would do. The centaur cracked open the door, a little surprised to find it not locked, and peered in at Artemis standing in front of a holo-graphic display, his back to the peeping centaur. The display had strange symbols and calculations relating to physics and magical theory, and Foaly had no clue what any of it meant. He turned his attention to Artemis then, wondering if the man would be able to enlighten him. 

His suit blazer was thrown on the floor and his shirt sleeves looked like he’d rolled one up and then forgotten about the other. His hair was slick with sweat and he seemed to be muttering under his breath. The centaur’s ears flicked forward, tuning into the frantic dialogue more completely. 

“Four weeks… no, I have to push it back. Five weeks of charging and it’ll have enough power.” 

“But five weeks is too long. It’ll lose power after thirty one days, so if I delay longer than that, it won’t have enough energy.” 

“But thirty one days is not a multiple of five! I suppose thirty would work. Multiple of five, no four’s in sight… yes, that’ll work quite nicely. If I-” his head snapped around at the slight creak of the door that Foaly had accidentally caused, looking down at his wide, equine hips as if they had betrayed him. He looked up to find Artemis rushing at him. 

“Out!” He screeched, shoving the larger fairy’s chest. “Get out you snooping quadruped!” 

Foaly laughed, his drunkenness reasserting itself and distracting him from the oddity of the scene. Maybe Artemis was drunk? He reared back a bit, causing Artemis to lose his balance and slip forward, but he had enough coordination to slam the door in the horseman’s face. 

Foaly laughed again, and said “Snooping Quadruped? That’s the best you got?” He trotted away, swaying back and forth, and returned to the party. 

Artemis, however, could not forget the incident. He leaned against the door, breathing heavily. His pupils were dilated and his pulse pounded well beyond the normal threshold, even for the naturally fast heartbeat of an elf. 

He clutched at his throat, sweating even more than he had before, and he stood up, rushing across the room. We waved his hands rapidly, turning off the display that showed his latest project in all its detail. Stupid stupid! He hadn’t even locked the door! He moved back over to it and tested the nob once, twice… five times. Five times just to be sure. He let out a sigh when the door remained locked after the fifth jerk of the handle, and then he sat back in his chair, trying desperately to quell his panic. 

He counted to twenty five five times, and finally, finally he relaxed. He slumped in his chair, exhausted, and fell asleep.

~~~

Holly came to get him to bed after the party had finally ended, punching in the code to his office. It was her name in numerical digits backwards. Sweet, and Artemis was certain no one would expect such a simple password. Smiling a little and swaying from the alcohol that she was not allowing her magic to flush from her system, she stepped into the dark study. She scooped Artemis up in her arms and carried him to bed. 

She didn’t notice when he wrapped his arms around her, stroking up and down her back in patterns of five.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've narrowed the scope of this a bit. I was originally going to write a nine or ten chapter fic building up his descent into his psychosis, but I think that's overestimating my abilities. So there'll be one more chapter of Onset, and then I'll be moving onto the part with actual plot hahaha


End file.
